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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Last week Caleb had a neurosurgery appointment, just a follow-up to see how he is doing. The neurosurgeon was surprised to see how weak Caleb's legs are 15 months after tethered cord surgery, especially his right leg. I asked the doctor how common it was for a child who was ambulatory prior to TC surgery to lose all function and not gain it back. He said it was very rare. Which is why I think he is so concerned about Caleb's lack of progress. He wants to make sure there is nothing else going on, nothing else that could be causing or contributing to Caleb's lack of function. So, he ordered a full MRI (head and spine), as soon as possible. Caleb has the MRI tomorrow morning. Caleb will be under anesthesia since the scan takes about 2 hours. Please pray for Caleb, that he wouldn't be anxious or fearful. He always does great with anesthesia and is such a trooper so I don't expect any surprises tomorrow...but prayer is always appreciated. I don't know what the MRI will show. I'm trying not to play the "what if" game right now because my mind goes to some pretty bad places.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

This past Saturday we went to Hawaiian Fall water park with a big group from our local Spina Bifida chapter. We had access to the park at 8:30 in the morning, two hours before the park opened to the public. So much fun!

He's so cute.

"What's up?"

We spent most of our time at the wave pool.

This is Caleb underwater, completely underwater, by HIS choice. This is huge for him. He usually has major anxiety about going underwater. We tried to sign him up for swim lessons last summer but the instructors make you go under whether you want to or not. This gave Caleb a lot of anxiety and we had to pull him out of lessons. So, the fact that he is now asking to go underwater on his own is a big deal folks. I'm so proud of him.

After the wave pool we headed to the water fountain walkway.

He's perfect.

I don't think his wheelchair has ever been so wet. Soaked.

Benjamin just got this pair of Spiderman swim shorts. He picked them out and he loves them. He even carries them around the house (along with his new swim shoes). He is so proud of them.

Last summer I introduced the boy to shaving cream art. They loved it, especially Caleb. I actually thought it was pretty cool too. Caleb has been asking to do it again so this was a must-do for our summer bucket list.

This really is a fun activity. All you need is shaving cream, food coloring, and paper.

Just put some shaving cream in a container and add food coloring.

The boys used q-tips to make swirls and mix colors.

Finally, press a piece of paper into the shaving cream. You don't have to completely submerge the paper like Caleb is doing in this photo!

Wipe the shaving cream off and you are left with a really neat print on the paper.

We added a new activity to our bucket list poster recently. I took the boys to the park and we had a little nature hike.

Before we set out on our hike, we stopped for a quick ride on the tire swing.

Love this photo.

Cute story: The boys stayed on the swing for quite sometime, spinning and swinging. After about 10 minutes Benjamin looks at me and says: "I need to get off. I'm going to throw up." I guess he was a bit dizzy. Fortunately he didn't vomit. After he sat for a few minutes he was fine.

A few weeks ago, Caleb planted a few sunflower seeds in a pot (a sand bucket to be exact). The other day Caleb was sitting by his plant, pulling off the dead leaves. The next thing I hear is: "Hey mom, I found a bug!".

This "bug" turned out to be a caterpillar. Further investigation led us to find a total of 3 caterpillars chomping away on Caleb's plant.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Nothing welcomes summer like dusting off the Slip 'n Slide for an afternoon of fun. The boys loved the Slip 'n Slide last summer and they have been begging to get it out. Such a simple, and inexpensive activity (if you don't count the millions of dollars spent in constant water flow)!

Before I get to the slippin' and slidin' fun, I have to share Caleb's recent purchase. He has been saving his "Cha-Ching" money for a while now. He didn't have much, only about $6 but that didn't stop him from finding the perfect toy.

Yep, that's a baby pool.

I tried to tell Caleb that this pool was very tiny and he might not even fit in it, much less be able to swim in it.

Leave it to my almost 8 year old to cram himself into a pool made for a baby.

I usually caption the photos that I post. However, I don't think these next photos need any captions. Just boys having a great time.

I love this photo of Benjamin. He has this tough look on his face and the fake tattoo on his arm just really adds to his toughness.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Some of you might remember last summer when I did "Cool Summer Days" with the boys. It involved this really cute calendar.

Basically I put a small piece of paper inside each ice cream cone. The boys would pull out the paper to discover what the activity was for that day. Super cute idea. The boys loved it. However, it was a lot of work for me. The task of having a DAILY activity all summer long quickly became a stressful chore for this momma.

I decided to do something a little more relaxed and low key this summer.

Presenting....Our Summer Bucket List Poster

It's a simple white poster board that I decorated with images from PicMonkey.

The bucket hanging next to the poster has slips of paper with different activities written on them. Some of the activities are ones the boys came up with on their own, and some I added. As we do an activity, we write it on our poster board.

Even though I didn't want to have the stress of thinking of an activity to do every single day, I did want there to be an element of surprise on some days. So I made this.

A small banner of buckets with pockets so I can slip a paper in the bucket.

I've decided to just pick a couple of days a week to have a planned activity so the boys still get the thrill of pulling out a slip of paper that reveals the fun for that day. I'll likely use these buckets for planned outings.

I'll also let the boys randomly choose an activity from the bucket from time to time. These activities will most likely be crafts or activities at home.

As you can see from our Summer Bucket List poster, we have already done a handful of activities. Last week I took the boys to the park for some playtime and a picnic lunch.

Yes they are dressed exactly the same. And yes they both have a mohawk hairdo. No, it was not my idea to make them look like twins. Whenever Benjamin picks out his clothes for the next day, Caleb then chooses a shirt the exact same color (or in this case, the exact same shirt). Benjamin usually bases his hairstyle on whatever Bubba chooses. So that is why they look like twins.

After some playground fun, Caleb wanted to hit up the basketball court.

Like a good little brother, Benjamin would get the runaway balls for Bubba.